Water-closet actuator.



No. 831,15 8. PATENTED SEPT. 18, 1906.

W.-A. HENN. WATER CLOSET AGTUATOR.

APPLIOATION PILED SEPT. 1,1905.

` witnesses: Invertor by W ww WL S. 'Attorney UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

WJLIAM A. HENN, OF HAMILTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE SANITARY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

'WATER-CLOSET ACTUATOR. p

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 18, 1906.

Application filed September J, 1905. 'Serial No. Z76,738.

TO all whom, it mar/y cancer-n:-

Be it-known that I, WILLIAM-A. HENN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio, (whose post-office address is No. 718 Central avenue, Hamilton, Ohio,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closet-Valve Actuators, of-

which the following is a specification.

This invention, pertaining to details of Construction of the devices employed in actuating the valves of closet-tanks by hand, will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- 4 Figure 1 is a front elevation of a closettank provided with my improved actuating device Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same;

F ig. 3, a horizontal section, an'd Fig. 4 a perspective view of the actuating device detached from the tank.

In closet-tanks of the low-down" class the internal fiushing-valve is often arranged to be actuated by means of an external push button disposed pretty well down near the base of the tank so as to be within convenient reach. With fair usage the arrangements in question might be quite Satisfactory; but it is found in practice that fair usage cannot be depended upon, the buttons being subjected to violent actuations by the hand, and it is not uncommon to find that the buttons have been actuated by the foot instead of the hand.

My improvement aims to better fit the push-button arrangements to the rough usage to which they are likely to be subjected.

In the drawings, l indicates an ordinary closet-tank of the low-down class; 2, that one of its walls on which the external pushbutton is to be disposed; 3, the metal lining of the tank; 4, a groove eXtending vertically upon the inner surface of the tank-wall from the top of the tank down to the point of location of the push-button, the lining closing the inner face of this groove, as usual; 5, the usual lever for Operating the flush-valve, this lever being pivoted to the wall of the tank at such point that one of its ends will be near against theouter surface ofthetank-wall covering the mortise, this escutcheon forming practically a firmly-se'cured verticallyslotted metallic front wall for the mortise; 8, a plate arranged to slide vertically upon the outer face of the escutcheonand normally cover the slot therein; i 9, the handle, preferably in vertically-presenting push-button form, secured to this plate; 10, an arm rigid with. the plate 8 and projecting inwardly through the mortise to a point below the groove in the tank-wall ll, a rod having its lower end screwed into the arm 10 and having its upper end connected with the lever 5, and 12 a pair of lugs projecting, one at each side, from the arm 10 within the escutcheon, the outer front faces of these lugs engaging the real' face of the escutcheon at each side of its slot, but with suflicient freedom to permit the proper vertical movement of the arm".

By pushing down upon the handle (represented by the push-button) rod 11 will be pulled down and the lever rocked and the valve actuated as usual, these parts going back to normal position when the valve reseats. If an attempt be made to move the handle suddenly and violertly, there will of course be an eXtraordinary strain brought upon the rod 11 but that strain will be a tensional strain well within the capacity of the rod, the strain being purely normal in character. The bending effect of the strain produced is resisted by the plate 8 and lugs 12, engaging the walls of the slot as a guide. The lower portion of the plate 8 bears against the outer face of the escutcheon, and the lugs 12 bear against the inner face of the escutcheon at a higher point, and there can be no bending of the arm or the rod, nor can any disorder be brought about by any violence short of such as might tear the escutcheon away from the tank-wall.

That portion of the arm directly engaging the slot of the escutcheon is of such width and form as to permit the arm when the rod is disconnected from it to be given a quarterturn upon thearm as an aXis, and the Vertical thickness of the arm is not in eXcess of the width of the slot. By disconnecting the lever from the rod the rod may be unscrewed TOO from the arm, after which the arm may be turned by means of the handle, thus permitting the part sliding in the escutcheon to be withdrawn outwardly, the replacement being by reverse operation.

I claim as my invention v 1. In a closet-valve actuator, the combination, substantally as set forth, of `a tank-wall provided With a vertical interior roove and a mortise leading outwardly there om, avertcally-slotted escutcheon Secured against the' eXteror of the Wall over the mortise, a plate lying against the outer face of the escutcheon and provided with a handle, an arm projecting rigidly from the plate inwardly through'the escutcheon and mortise to the foot of the groove, lugs projecting sidewise from the arm and engaging the rear of the escutcheon at the sides of its slot, and a rod disposed in the groove of the tank-Wall and having its lower end separably Secured to said arm and having its upper end accessible at the top of the tank.

2. In a closet-valve actuator, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a tank-wall provided with a vertical interior roove and a mortise leading outwardly there om, avertically-slotted escutcheon Secured against the eXterior of the Wall over the mortise, a

plate lying against the outer face of the escutcheon and rovided with a handle, an arm projecting rigdly from the plate inwardly through the escutcheon and mortise to the foot of the groove, lugs projecting sidewise from the arm and engaging the rear of the escutcheon at the sides of its slot, and a rod disposed in the groove of the tank-Wall and having its lower end separably Secured to said arm and having its upper end accessible at the top of the tank, said arm being adapted to -be turned in and withdrawn outwardly through the slot of the escutcheon When the rod is disconnected. i e I WM. A. HENN.

Witnesses:

HORACE P. SHANK, JOHN H. DAVIS. 

